Improvement in metallic cans



UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.'

GEORGE H. PERKINS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN METALLIC CANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 214,582, dated April 22, 1879; application filed September 28, 1878.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that' I, GEORGE H. PERKINS, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pyramidal Meat-Gans, of which the following is a full, clear, and precise description.

This invention is an improvement upon that set forth in English Letters Patent No. 1,059 of 1860, and more especially upon such portion of the same as relates to the re-enforce ment of the sides of a sheet-metal can by means of stren gth enin g-pieces soldered against the corners ot the sides, and extending from top to Vbottom thereof, such structure being illustrated in Fig. 12 of the drawings of said English patent.

lVIy improvement consists in strengtheningpieces of metal A B, or their equivalent, secured against the corners C of a pyramidal meat-can in such manner that said strengthching-pieces stop short of the top D or larger end ol" said can, so as to leave a circumferential portion of the body, as at E, not traversed by said stren gthenin g-stri ps, to the endthat a knife passed around the said body of the larger end of the can will, without interference with the strips, sever the sheet metal of entire'side body F, including the corners E, so as to enable the taking oft' of the head D and the removal of the contents in solid molded mass by percussion applied to the smaller end, G, of the can.

Ot' the drawings, Figure 1 is a view, in perspective, ot' a can embodying my invention, reenforced by outside strips; and Fig. 2, a view, in perspective, ot' a similar can sectionedhorizontally, so as to show the re-enforcements B applied to the inside of the corner portions C; Fig. 3, a vertical section of Fig. 1 along the middle of one corner, and extending half-way across the can.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts wherever used.

In the process of canning cooked meats, to which my invention is of especial applicability, it has been found that the only can which it is advisable to employ is the pyramidal, because the only form readily permittin g the removal of the cooked mea-t in solid molded mass, the larger end of the can being cut through around the side body at E and F, near the larger head, D, and the contents ejected by percussion applied to the smaller end, G and it has been further found that, unless these pyramidal cans are re-enforced at their corner portions C by such strengtheningstrips as are set forth in the English patent referred to, the can will tirst bulge out of shape under the steam-pressure necessarily generated within it during the boiling process to which the can and its :inclosed contents are subjected, and will then buckle or double in at its corners under the subsequent collapse.

In order to remove the contents in solid mass it is also necessary, as before stated, to cut oft' the larger end portion, or the can-head D, by sectioning the metal of the side body completely around at E and F. Such cutting is impossible in a can constructed as in the Englishpatentreferredto,beeausethestrengthening-strips therein set forth extend the entire distance of the side body, or, as' expressed7 from top to bottom ofthe can;7 so that any cutting by tools ordinarily in use would be rendered impossible at the corners by the interference or' said strengthening-strips, which render the corners of the English can too thick and strong to be cut through.

Bymyimprovementotstoppingsaidstrengthening-strips A B just short of the larger end of the. can, (shown at E,) I gain all the advantages ot' the reenforcement, and at the same time leave a portion of metal extend'- ing circumferentially and completely around the can which is notre-enforced, but around and through which the knife can pass.

The strengthening-strips may be composed of any desired material, applied in any desired manner.

rIhe can is preferablymade with its side body of very thin tin, such as"taggers,7 and both its ends of heavier tin than the side body, according to an invention ot' myself and Geo. Brown, for which We are about to apply for Letters Patent.

I am aware that lamellar vessels are old; that double-walled vessels have been re-enforced by intermediate strengtheningrings; and that hexagonal and other cans have been strengthened by hoops circumt'ercntially applied either inside or outside, and to none of forced, substantially as and for the purposes such forms do I lay claim. set forth.

` What I do o1aim,zmddes'ire to secure by Let- In testimony whereofl I have hereunto ters Patent, issigned my name this 25th day of September.,

' In combination with a pyramidal meat-can, 1878.

strengthening-strips applied. to the corners GEORGE H. PERKINS. thereof in such manner as tol stop short of the In presence oflarger end of the can, in order to leave a, eir- J. BONSALL TAYLOR, eumferential portion of the metal not re-enl W. C. STRAWBR-IDGE. 

